Annie’s Coat McCall’s M5717

Here’s Annie modeling her new coat! Can I say that I am very proud?

As a budding seamstress she has been sewing for a number of years. She made a lot of items for a craft show recently (to be shared in an upcoming post). She has followed patterns, but fairly simple ones. She joined the sewing club at school and set her eyes on this coat pattern, McCall’s M5717.

I have made many coats over the years and simply love sewing them. Annie, being the frugal girl that I love, selected a fabric from our stash given to me by a friend. It is a lovely pink, grey and white woven fabric. The challenge was that the fabric frayed very easily. We should have serged the cut edges. Annie selected view C without the ruffle. She wanted regular sleeves and a tie belt.

I have a few gripes with the pattern. Some of it was unclear, even to a seasoned seamstress like me. I could not find the instructions for finishing the plain arm. Also, the sizing is enough to get your goat. Annie’s measurements for bust and hip are a size 4. Her waist measurement is a size 10. That seems strange to me. Why such a disparity between pattern sizes and commercial sizes? I’m fine with using measurements, but still – that’s a bit aggravating. That would probably make my waist a size 20 – and when I purchase a pattern – I’m not going to think to buy a 20 when that is so different than my commercial size. With the multi-sized pattern we simply drew lines from the size 4 bust to the size 10 waist. Simple enough.

We selected these ceramic buttons from Joanns.

It was a fantastic learning experience for her. Most of it was done at home under my guidance. But she brought it to sewing club as well. Her friends all admired it this weekend – without even knowing she made it herself!